San Diego County, California "SchoolPool" Program Expanding.

San Diego, California local SchooPool program is expanding, a county program that encourages parents to carpool or have their children walk or ride a bike to school is expanding as more educators look for ways to reduce pollution and traffic congestion around campuses. This year more than 50 schools across the region, including 16 in North County are participating in the San Diego Association of Governments' SchoolPool program.

The program is a great way to improve safety, reduce the number of cars on the road and help keep children healthy, it can really pull a community together. A key element of the program is to help parents connect with other parents in their neighborhood who want to carpool or who want their children to walk or bike to school with fellow students and parents. The effort has expanded over the past couple of years, especially since the county added an online parent-matching option in 2009. Parents can get pass codes through coordinators at each school that allow then to access the online database.

This year is the first time parents can organize supervised walking and biking trips to school. The more parents involved that are walking and biking the less congestion we'll have around the schools. As part of the program student can get free helmets, hats and backpacks. Schools can also arrange free safety classes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------